windows 9

When Microsoft announced its newest operating system, the surprise was not that it was coming, but that Windows would be skipping 9 and headed straight to 10. So why, exactly, is Windows 10 getting the nod instead of 9?

As you’ve probably heard by now, Windows 10 will see the illustrious return of the Start menu — except it isn’t quite the Start menu that you’re used to from Windows 7 and Vista. In fact, it’s better! The Windows 10 Start menu is the best Start menu yet. There, I said it.

I installed Windows 10 Technical Preview. Actually, I was so brave (foolhardy?) that I upgraded my main Windows 8.1 installation to Windows 10. The good news: The upgrade process went very smoothly indeed. The bad news: Well, except for a few small interface quirks, there doesn’t seem to be much bad news. Read on for my early hands-on impressions of Windows 10 Technical Preview — and a video of Windows 10 Technical Preview running on my multi-monitor desktop PC.

Microsoft’s unveil of Windows 10 yesterday was one of the most humble, apologetic things I’ve ever seen in technology. After years of defending Windows 8’s weird mashup of new Metro and old Desktop, there wasn’t a glimmer of hubris or righteousness on the face of Microsoft’s Myerson or Belfiore as they showed off an early version of Windows 10. Windows 10 is basically the upgraded version of Windows 7 that we’ve always asked for — but is that a good thing?

Microsoft has unveiled Windows 10 — not Windows 9, but Windows 10. The event in San Francisco was mostly what we expected: Microsoft wants to make Windows 10 a killer OS for all of those disaffected mouse-and-keyboard users — both consumers like you and I, and also the big enterprise customers who were rather displeased with Windows 8’s Metro interface. Read on to find out about Windows 10’s new features and changes from Windows 8.

At an event in San Francisco today (1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific, 6pm UK) Microsoft will unveil Windows 9 — or whatever Microsoft ends up calling it. The event is expected to focus on the Desktop and enterprise side of things, though Microsoft might also show off some of the changes to the Metro/mobile side of things. We’ll be covering the event here with a live blog, and photos from our reporter in San Francisco — but sadly, it seems Microsoft won’t be providing a live video stream.

Microsoft has sent out the official press invites for an event on September 30, where we are almost certain that Windows 9 (codenamed Threshold) will be unveiled. The Windows 9 Technical Preview should be handed out to event attendees, and should also be available online on September 30 or very soon after.

Yesterday it was screenshots — and today we have a glorious video of the new Windows 9 Start menu. The video shows in much greater detail how the new Start menu will intertwine the old Windows 7-era Start menu with aspects of Windows 8’s Metro interface. Putting aside for a moment that the Windows 9 Start menu was clearly cut from Metro cloth, I’m actually pleasantly surprised by the functionality and UI displayed in the video.

A bunch of new Windows 9 technical preview screenshots have been leaked… and I think you will either be curiously surprised, or utterly revolted. Good news: In Windows 9, it does indeed look like Desktop users won’t be thrust back into the full-screen Metro interface. Bad news: The Desktop interface now looks like it has been infected by Metro.

There is an increasing amount of evidence that Microsoft is preparing to drop all of its different brands of Windows — Windows Phone, Windows 8, Windows 9, Windows RT — and simply call them all Windows. The idea would be that, in the mind of the consumer, Windows is just Windows, and that all of these different names and flavors are just confusing. Getting rid of all that complexity and returning to the old way — where Windows is synonymous with personal computing — would certainly be a coup for Microsoft.

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